Ah yes, Pata de Gallo… “Rooster Foot”… As I mentioned the other day, I went to Pata de Gallo on Tuesday to help deliver gifts to low-income families. Pata de Gallo is a community that is just down the (4-wheel drive) road from Berlin, but it’s worlds away in some senses. It’s pretty remote; if you can make it there, you can probably make it anywhere (literally).

I work at the Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano in nearby Palmares, and as part of a giving program, the teachers, staff, students, and even students’ families at the center gathered gifts for the people of Pata de Gallo. Here are some more pictures from that day:

This was my Picture of the Day for Tuesday. It’s three of the girls from Pata de Gallo, along with my coworker Paola’s daughter, Hannah (on the right).

The front door of the church in Pata de Gallo.

Two pictures of Hannah playing a toy drum. Cute girl!

Some pictures of the kids opening their presents.

The corral at the church. I’d never seen a church with a livestock corral before this one.

A boy with a ball he got as a present.

A family with their presents.

Lucy’s macho car, de-machoed a bit by the fluffy flowers.

Inside the church’s yard.

My boss’ boss Alejandro, a baby, and my coworker Paola.

Another picture of the four girls.

A boy and his truck. Many of the presents were toys, but many were also school supplies. It was very touching to see how excited the kids got to receive both. This boy was running around to show everyone a sheet of stickers he’d gotten, and others were proudly showing off new colored pencils or erasers. Such great enthusiasm!

We were also given a tour of the one-room schoolhouse in Pata de Gallo. It was currently being renovated by Nelson, the same guy who renovated the Formerly-Crappy Casita in the back of our property (Nelson also happens to be my brother-in-law’s brother-in-law… I guess technically that’s also a title I could apply to myself. Weird.). Inside the school they have a wall where each graduating sixth grade class paints their hands and names on the wall. It’s pretty neat, yet it also underscored how small the community really is, and how much it was able to benefit from a bit of outside help.

Most of our group in front of the school. Good work, team!